Foot Care Knowledge Assessment among Type 2 Diabetic Patients attending Three Family Medicine Centers in Cairo

Background: Diabetic complications are strongly attributed to poor foot care knowledge and practice.  Knowledge about diabetes enables patients to play an active role in effective diabetes self-management. Proper daily foot care is an effective part of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) prevention and enables diabetic patients to early detect foot abnormalities and injuries, thus reduce or even prevent the risk of foot ulceration. Objectives:to measure foot care knowledge and to identify possible associated factors among Egyptian diabetic patients attending three Family Medicine centers in Cairo Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in three Family Medicine centers on140 diabetic who met the inclusion criteria. Data on foot care knowledge was collected using a structured interview questionnaire. Results: More than half (62.1%) of the participants had poor foot care knowledge, 24.3% had satisfactory level and only13.6% have good knowledge. The mean of knowledge score was as follow in the three centers; El Sadis (7.18±2.697) El Darrasa (6.92±3.168) and in Saraya was (5.96±3.037) and no statistical difference in foot care knowledge score or  grade was found between the three centers. A strong and significant relation was found between income and knowledge grade. Also Longer disease duration and  history of foot ulcer were associated with good foot care knowledge. Conclusion: Poor foot care knowledge was evident among the study participants in the three Family Medicine Centers and hence  interactive health educational programs targeting type 2 diabetic patients are strongly recommended.